Dreamcast/reicast gameplay problems

freakazoidman

Ever since I upgraded to retropie 4. Games that used to play well (but not perfect) like Crazy Taxi and Sturmwind has been very laggy and hardly playable. I'm running Rp 3. Video mode is set to 720x480 60hz 27mhz progressive. I've tried all emulations (reicast-audio-oss and lr-reicast), but so far hardly anything is playable (everything boots up fine but lots of lag in gameplay) Are there any settings that used to be on the old jessie build I should be aware of?

Gwyllion

@freakazoidman yes, 3b+ OC plus original power Supply, 5,1v .2,5A.

Crazy Taxy works fine for me.

Dont waste your time with 3b.

Efriim

@freakazoidman
I don't know much about the reicast emu.cfg options but you could set it to 640x480.

I do have an old binary that you could swap out or even add a custom emulator for.
reicast old version from the dreamcast compatibility thread

You will have to copy it and move it to the location yourself.
sudo mv reicast-legacy /opt/retropie/emulators/reicast/bin/reicast
sudo chmod +x /opt/retropie/emulators/reicast/bin/reicast

Updating the emulator will overwrite this of course.

If you want to add a custom emulator
sudo mv reicast-legacy /opt/retropie/emulators/reicast/bin/reicast-legacy
cd /opt/retropie/emulators/reicast/bin
sudo nano reicast.sh
^look for the binary call 'bin\reicast' and change it to 'bin\reicast-legacy' then save as filename: reicast-legacy.sh (Ctrl+O; reicast-legacy.sh)
sudo chmod +x reicast-legacy
nano /opt/retropie/configs/dreamcast/emulators.cfg
^Copy one of the lines and change the script called from reicast.sh to reicast-legacy.sh (Ctrl+K; Ctrl+U; Ctrl+U) then save

Select the reicast with runcommand.
If you update reicast the binary and scripts will be erased, unless you want to create a new folder for them and edit the reicast.sh and emulators.cfg accordingly.

Efriim

oh yeah about the reicast binary, it has some performance enhancements for the renderer but it is old. I also have a binary that is really recent but not the latest, lacking some of those enhancements but performing just as well in general.

Reicast March 23, 2019 (before the latest gui update)
Reicast Legacy, unknown build date (from the dreamcast compatibility thread)

BJRetro

@Gwyllion I agree with @Efriim that you should lower the resolution; also overclock the 3b+. I was surprised it mattered but my pi with a fan definitely runs dc games better than the one I have without a fan.

Efriim

@BJRetro @freakazoidman
Nah you shouldn't listen to me, I'm crazy and will probably waste your time.
The new updates have been good, I'm about to test out the latest has a gui. I nay think the old bins will help but thar they be if ye want 'em.

Efriim

@Efriim
Use OMX audio, and
Advanced settings; SMC Checks = Faster, and then restart.
Will improve performance a lot.

Efriim

I have my RPI3b+ underclocked fanless at
temp_limit=75
temp_soft_limit=65
arm=1200
gpu=250
core=500

And MvC2 in near flawless, the temperature stays around 60.
Also the controller timing out, when it re-syncs it is good to go again.

Nah, MvC2 does slow down a bit with a bunch of sprites, and some of the sprites have a horizontal line misaligned. And it is crashing around the second match like it used to, so i'm still working it out.

Gwyllion

Here you have my OC RPI3B+ with original Power supply and Megapi case with fun and of course as @Efriim said, OMX audio will improve. I will check SMC Checks as well. @BJRetro 640 resolution is enough.

arm_freq=1450
gpu_freq=500
core_freq=600
sdram_freq=667
sdram_schmoo=0x02000020
over_voltage_sdram_p=8
over_voltage_sdram_i=8
over_voltage_sdram_c=5
over_voltage=6
sdram_over_voltage=2
temp_soft_limit=70
force_turbo=1

Crazy Taxy runs soft and fast...and PSP as well.

freakazoidman

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will experiment some more with new settings. Hopefully RP4 will get a release next year and put all performance issues to rest :-)

sirhenrythe5th

@freakazoidman i am pretty sure that at least Dreamcast and PSP will profit of the upcoming Pi4. I decided to wait till the release and then finally start with those emulators.

Efriim

@sirhenrythe5th
the pi4 with a arm cortex a73 and * TWO * videocoreIV GPUs. Comes with either 2gb or 4gb internal ram. Not really, I was trying to make a joke, not funny...

Record of Lodoss war, no longer crashes. It is a big hunk of lag art once you get top-side, there are a lot more enemies and polygons. Still playable, (I OC'd for this one)

Jet Grind Radio, with the option to turn off shadows in the GUI can get decent performance, but I imagine there are still those levels that run like butt.

TimeStalkers, The analog deadzone seems to have been fixed with the latest update, as well as the connection being able sync into play, which is great, I might find some time for this one.